Category: self improvement

Why I have joined MasterClass and you may want to too.

I am always looking for ways to get smarter. I could use all the help I can get. So I read as much as I can. In fact, I consider myself a book collector. Mostly because I like to collect knowledge. I listen to audiobooks when I drive. I listen to podcasts when I mow the lawn. And I occasionally read directions.

Online Education

I have long been fascinated with online learning. The idea of taking classes online lowers the bar to continuing education in a significant way, eliminating the geographical barriers to access. Which is exciting for anyone who lives in BFE, or what more civilized people call the middle of nowhere.

MasterClass

I love to read books by or about people who are at the highest level of performance and achievement. So when I heard about MasterClass I was intrigued. In a nutshell, MasterClass offers a wide variety of classes taught by people who are masters of their craft. Each class consists of a series of short, easy-to-watch videos. The instructors teach lessons on a variety of nuanced topics within their specialty. But their lessons can be applied to a wide range of disciplines.

There are also instruction books that come as downloadable pdfs, which allow you to follow the lessons in written form. There are no tests. So it won’t induce that recurring dream about the college exam you forgot to study for, and then showed up to naked. (Did I just overshare?) MasterClass simply provides lessons and ideas to absorb and incorporate into your own life.

Some of the faculty at MasterClass in their yearbook photo.

So Far So Good.

Like The Carpenters, I have only just begun my MasterClass experience. But I am intrigued and impressed with the nuggets and reminders I am picking up. I think of the MasterClass videos like college lectures.

However, to make the most of MasterClass I would like to create a discussion group. I think of this like the discussion portion of a college class. Or a book club, only without the books, drinking and gossip. The point is to absorb the materials, think about what you are learning, and then consider the applications and implications with a group of other intelligent people to enhance the impact power of the lessons.

My MasterClass Club

My expectation for my MasterClass club is that we will decide on a class or two to take each month. Then we will meet for an hour or two to discuss what we have learned. We will explore key takeaways, and how we plan to apply what we have learned to our lives and careers.

My group will be run via Zoom, both because of covid (had you forgotten about that?) and because I don’t want to limit those who can participate due to geographical access. Which is what is great about online education.

Cost

When I signed up the cost was $15 per month, or $180 a year. Which is a small price to pay for insights, education and inspiration. However, when I signed up they also offered a buy-one-get-one-free membership. I just checked, and they are running that promotion now. So you should get BoGoing before the offer is BoGone.

A Scholarship Opportunity

I have a membership to give away too, like a scholarship. I have been thinking of people who I know that would really appreciate this. It turns out one of the people I was thinking of gifting my bonus membership to, my rockstar friend Nicole Hallada, already has a membership. Which doesn’t surprise me at all. If you sign up now, consider gifting your bonus membership to begin or grow your own club.

Your 2021 Improvement Plan

If continuing your education and self-improvement are a priority to you, consider joining MasterClass as part of your 2021 plan. If you do, or you are already a member, and you are a fun and interesting thinker who likes to discuss ideas with others, consider creating or joining a MasterClass Club.

Key Takeaway

There are valuable lessons to be learned from those who are at the top of their craft. Seek them out. Study their ways. Discover their keys to success. Incorporate their approach into your own. And surround yourself with others who are doing the same thing so you can learn from each other.

If you are interested in learning more about the MasterClass discussion group I am creating please let me know. Respond to this post, or send a note to adam@theweaponry.com.

*If you know someone who would benefit from this idea, please share it with them.

Hey adults! It’s time to make your wish list too.

One of the highlights of childhood is making your Christmas list. Which involves writing down all the things you want in life, with no regard for your parent’s tax bracket. Then you share your list with Santa so that he can overcome your parent’s financial limitations, and bring you exactly what you are looking for. It’s a nearly perfect idea. Nearly.

However, as an adult, it is just as important for you to write down your wish list. Taking time to think about what you want, what you really, really want in life is key to long term happiness and achievement. Just ask the Spice Girls.

If you don’t think about what you want you won’t recognize it when you see it. You need to know specifically what you are after. It is the only way you’ll know how to prioritize your time. Your list will determine how you budget your efforts. And like a good cult, your list will show you what you need to sacrifice to get what you want.

Don’t simply think about what you want. Like that note to Santa, it is time to write down that list of things you want most in life. Seeing those things on paper makes a difference. Revisiting the list often makes it important. Taking the actions required to attain the things on your list makes them real.

Key Takeaway

Creating a wish list of all the things you want in life is not just for kids. For adults, it works like a shopping list that tells you where and how to spend your time and energy. I hope you get everything you want in life. But first, you need to know what that is.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

How to benefit from the positive power of a bad boss.

I love the idea of having a mentor. In fact, I’d love to have a mentor as much as I’d love to have a beachfront mansion between Ricardo Montalbán and Magnum P.I. But I don’t own any oceanfront property, yet. And unfortunately, I don’t have an official mentor either.

To be fair, I do have a couple of sliver mentors. These are not people who teach me how to remove splinters. They are experts who I look to for insights and information about specific topics. But again, the relationships aren’t formal or consistent. So even my sliver mentors are unofficial and thinly used.

Anti-Mentors

However, I have had anti-mentors. These are bosses, leaders and managers who have shown me what not to do. They are people who set examples that I intuitively knew not to follow. (Mr. Lemming, maybe we shouldn’t jump off that cliff…) They are the types of leaders that are easy to complain about. But simply complaining about them means you are missing the value they provide.

Put Them To Work For You.

Instead of complaining about your supervisor, boss or otherwise-positioned anti-mentor, go to school on them. Study what they are doing wrong. Heck, write a book about them. Or write a song about them like Johnny Paycheck did. #TakeThisJobAndShoveIt

With everything you find wrong about your anti-mentor and his or her style, write down what you should do instead. You instinctually know where they went wrong, and you know where the gap is between what they did and what you know to be right.

This is extremely valuable. It is like learning to walk by falling down or learning to ride a bike by crashing. Watching an anti-mentor at work is like watching game film of your poor performances to see your mistakes from an external perspective. Once you have witnessed the failure you better understand the right things to do.

Pro Tip: If you have had nothing but great bosses, binge-watch The Office and let Michael Scott be your anti-guide.

Key Takeaway

Don’t overlook the power of those who show you what not to do. Anti-mentors can help you grow and learn as quickly as positive mentors, because we are wired to learn from pain and discomfort. Anti-mentors are easy to find. They are everywhere. Now, it’s time to put them to good use for you.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

**If you were one of my great bosses, supervisors or managers and don’t think this is about you, you’re right, it’s the other ones.

How to get the most out of each workday.

Yesterday when I arrived at work I sat down at my desk to plan my day at The Weaponry. I firmly believe that you must get on top of each day before the day gets on top of you. #ItsBetterOnTop

Like Lynyrd Skynyrd, I plan my days in 3 steps, mister.

  1. I open up my daily calendar to see my obligations for the day.
  2. I open Stickies on my laptop to see My Priorities List. I created a list that includes my clients, business development efforts, and major life goals.
  3. I open up my notebook and create my Daily Success List.

The Success List

At the top left corner of the page, I write Success List, because names matter. Then I add the date, for historic purposes.

Next, I fill the rest of the header section of the page with my 3 major career goals. I do this to keep them in mind, and to make sure the rest of the day aligns with my major goals. Because each day is like a tool we can use to achieve our dreams. Which means each day is kinda like a dreamcatcher, only without the feathers, string and rearview mirror.

After the page header has been properly transformed into a navigational tool, I begin my list.

Yesterday, I had no external obligations on my calendar. So I was free to make it the perfectly productive day. Which is probably why this topic is top of mind today.

With no meetings of any kind required of me, which is a real rarity, I filled my success list with my priorities.

The list included:

  • Creating a new planning process for one of our service offerings
  • Contacting several clients
  • Prepping for the implementation of our new 401(k) plan
  • Contacting potential future Weapons
  • Reaching out to friends in my network for no good reason
  • Strategic work for a client
  • Creative work for a client
  • Naming work for a client
  • Scheduling a client presentation
  • Reviewing an updated video script
  • Checking in on a logo design project
  • Contacting my tax accountant
  • Contacting my realtor
  • Contacting my favorite banking professional
  • Checking on our plans for an upcoming film and photoshoot

Making It Happen

When I was done creating the list there were 24 action items on it. The 24th action item was the most important. It simply said, Schedule Day Full. Which meant that now that I had my list of things to do for the day, I had to put them on the calendar in order to create a concrete plan to make the day productive. I then filled the rest of my calendar from 9:30 am to 5 pm with actions to take.

This meant that by 9:30 am I had transformed my day of no obligations into a day packed with actions and priorities. As a result, I knocked off 22 of the 24 items on my success list.

I even scheduled an hour for lunch at noon. Because eating food keeps me alive. And like the BeeGees, I find that staying alive is important to my long-term success. Over my lunch hour, I watched several videos on MasterClass, which I have added to my self-improvement program. More on that in another post.

Key Takeaway

Create a Success List every day. Start by listing your long term goals, and let them guide your actions and priorities on a daily basis. Schedule your workday full each day. And make sure to eat lunch and learn something new. Do this day after day, and not only will you cross your daily actions off your list, you will start crossing your long term goals off the top of the page.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

How to stand out in a crowd using your unique identifiers.

There are a lot of people to compete with on this planet. If you are looking for a job, a significant other, or a great opportunity, it helps to stand out from the herd. Or so I’ve heard.

Only You.

In advertising, we are always looking for that thing that only our brand can say. We were the first brand to do ________. We are the only brand to offer ________. We are the only brand that does __________ in Dallas, besides Debbie.

What we are doing is creating a clear and distinguishing image of our brand without an equal competitor. To do this, we create evaluation criteria that we naturally win.

Your Personal Brand

You can do the same thing for your personal brand. To do this, simply find something that makes you stand out. Use the following question as your guide.

What is something you have done that you are fairly confident you are the ONLY person in the considered set to have done?

The considered set means you are the only person in the room, at the party, in the new business pitch, or being interviewed who could say this. When someone asks you to share a fun fact about yourself, this is what they mean. I always think this would be a really fun game to play in prison.

Your Unique Identifiers

This question offers you an opportunity to become unforgettable. It allows you to reach into your bag of uniqueness and pull out that crazy fact, that interesting experience, that crazy condition, that remarkable accomplishment, and hold it up for everyone to see. Like when Anthony Michael Hall holds up Molly Ringwald’s underwear in Sixteen Candles. When you do, you have created your own Unique Identifier.

Your Unique Identifier serves as a valuable story that dramatically increases your memorability. And if you want opportunities to come your way, it helps to stand out from the crowd.

Some Unique Identifiers I use:

  • I once pet a hummingbird in the wild.
  • I once got stuck in a Murphy bed in Germany.
  • My Mom is one of 9 kids and my Dad is one of 12.
  • I lived in 5 states by the time I was in 7th Grade.
  • Me and Danica Patrick once filled a Prevost motorhome with ping pong balls.
  • My older sister Heather and I have the same birthday 2 years apart. And my 2 younger sisters, Alison and Donielle, have the same birthday 2 years apart.
  • In high school, I broke the state record in the discus 8 months after having my ACL reconstructed.
  • I launched The Weaponry because I had two different clients call me the same day and encourage me to start my own advertising agency.

Key Takeaway

We all have Unique Identifiers. Think about yours. Write them down and keep them handy. Use them at parties, on dates, and in interviews. They give others something interesting and differentiating to remember you by. Just ask Mikhail Gorbachev.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

Suddenly it is now or never for your 2020 goals.

You started 2020 with exciting goals to achieve. But the aspirations of New Year’s Day probably feel like a lifetime ago. Whether you set goals specifically for 2020, or goals to achieve in your lifetime, you began the year with something important you wanted to accomplish. If the wild ride that is 2020 has caused goal amnesia, take a moment now to remember your goals for the year. (cue the Jeopardy music…)

It’s go time.

Today is December 1st, and you are down to your last month of 2020. The next 31 days are what you have left to work with to make personal and professional progress this year. Don’t let the remaining time slip away. These are the days to remember. Cause they will not last forever.

Remember, self-imposed deadlines are the key drivers of accomplishment and self-improvement. And as Buddy knows, elf-imposed deadlines are the key drivers of elf-improvement.

Don’t worry if you can’t complete everything in 31 days. A good start is plenty valuable. In fact, the more you can accomplish in the next month, the better you will be positioned for a great 2021.

Things You Can Still Do In December

  • Lose weight
  • Start exercising
  • Read a book
  • Start writing a book
  • Begin a business
  • Create a meetup group
  • Expand your network
  • Look for a new job
  • Volunteer
  • Give Blood (A life goal I accomplished in November.)
  • Learn a new skill ( I just subscribed to Master Class)
  • Develop a new product or service
  • Take a class
  • Learn to ski, skate, scat or ska
  • Improve your business development efforts.
  • Begin to learn a new language
  • Create a plan for your financial security
  • Spend quality time with your family. (Over Thanksgiving my family focused on family game nights again.)
  • Reconnect with an old friend or family member
  • Quit smoking, drinking or drugging (It only takes one day as I wrote about here.)

Pro-gress Tip

Break the goal or project you want to make the most progress on into 31 smaller pieces. Do a little each day. Or break the goal into fewer chunks, depending on what day you first read this post. However, if you are reading this on December 31st I suggest you skip the last 2 paragraphs and get straight to work.

Remember, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. (I recommend starting with elephant ears covered in powdered sugar and cinnamon.) And the best way to complete your 2020 goals in December is 1/31st at a time.

Key Takeaway

Get going. The rest of the world may use the excuse that the end is near and give up, but the positive procrastinators say It’s Go Time! Don’t let these 31 days slip away. They are your opportunity for progress, change, new beginnings, or completion. It’s not too late to salvage 2020. Let the progress you make over the next 31 days be your holiday gift to yourself.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message today, please share it with them.

The most valuable construction material in the world arrives at midnight.

Do you know what the most valuable construction material is? In case you are no Bob The Builder and haven’t partied at The Home Depot since before the pandemic, here’s a quick refresher on some of the more popular materials:

  • Lumber
  • Brick
  • Concrete
  • Steel
  • Glass (If your house is made of this don’t throw Mick Jagger)
  • Bamboo
  • Corn (Mitchell, South Dakota only)
  • Plastic
  • Aluminum
  • Adobe

But the most valuable construction material of all, is time. You can use time, like blocks, bricks and legos to create anything you can think of. We all get a delivery of 1,440 shiny new minutes every day. They arrive at your doorstep at midnight.

Each minute is perfectly sized for human use. They enable you to create great things. To build your dreams. To construct the life you want to live. To make memories and relationships.

Your daily delivery of minutes can be used to build businesses. They can be used to write a book, a movie or a blog post. They can create quality time with others. They can be used for self-improvement, to build intelligence and construct confidence. They can be used to build homes. And they can even be volunteered to good causes.

The most interesting thing about your daily delivery of minutes is that if you use them you get to keep them forever. But if you don’t use them, they disappear at midnight.

Key Takeaway

Use your minutes today.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message please share it with them. It will only take a minute.

How to approach your career like a sport.

Business is the ultimate sport. Not only is it highly competitive, it is played for money. And the better you are at this game the more money you and your teammates make. And while many professional athletes are well paid, it is because someone else is making even more money in business by owning the team or the league the athletes play in.

Sports and Business

Will Jurgensen loves exploring the parallel between sports and business. In fact, he began a podcast called Sport Coats to profile the stories of athletes who applied their approach to athletics to successful business careers. I would have liked to have been in the room when Will realized how perfect the name Sport Coats was for his sports/business podcast. Because I bet that boy celebrated like Ickey Woods.

Everyday Ickey Woods is shuffling.

I recently sat down with Will to talk about my experience as a track and field athlete at The University of Wisconsin. But more importantly, we talked about how I have applied my approach to athletics to my career in advertising. And we talked about how my athletic career prepared me to become an entrepreneur when I launched The Weaponry.

Sound bites from the podcast:

On Focus:

‘I remember early in my career, getting hyper-focused on concepts for a campaign or ideas for a new business pitch. It felt the same as those times when I was in the weight room focusing hard on getting those last few reps. It’s the same thing, it’s the exact same feeling.’

On Transitioning: (Not like Caitlyn Jenner)

‘When you are done with your athletics, a lot of athletes say, “I was lost, I felt like it wasn’t me without sports.” I would say I never felt that at all. As soon as I graduated, I just turned my attention to my career and took the exact same focus and drive, and willingness to put in the energy to be great that I did for my athletics. I put that into my career and it surprises me how few athletes do this, because it is the exact same blueprint for athletic success that drives the rest of the success in your career.’

On Self Improvement:

‘Track and field is a little different than a traditional team sport because it is all you, and it’s so cut and dry. I would put a tape measure out or use a stopwatch to figure out if I was improving and if I was better than other people who have tried this. From that standpoint, I found the challenge of self-improvement to be intoxicating.’

On Training:

“The structure, the discipline, the focus, the background work that you have to do as an athlete, you know, all the little drills that you do over and over to perfect a piece of what you do, when you do that in your career you become highly specialized. And you become world-class at the smallest things. You add extreme value to organizations that make money off of that kind of work.’

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Ye Can Hear It Here.

You can listen to my interview here at The Sport Coats Podcast. You can also read more of the transcript if you prefer the voice in your head over mine. I listened to the podcast on the podcast app on my iPhone.

I think you will enjoy it, even if you aren’t into sports. It feels like a motivational talk. Will is a great host. And after listening to the episode I understood why people think I am excited about life.

Key Takeaway

Business is the ultimate competitive sport. It requires discipline, teamwork and strategy. Everything you know about athletic competition, hard work, focus and determination translates directly to business. It is an inherently fun game to play with others. And it is even more fun to win. The money is a bonus. But what a bonus that is.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, or from this podcast, please share it with them.

Do you know what your most important values are?

Businesses often spend a great deal of time identifying and declaring their core values. However, very few repeat them often enough, or bake them into their day-to day operations to make them meaningful. Just ask the Weinstein brothers.

Declaring your values is really declaring your priorities. Your values provide a framework for your decision making. Your values tell you where to focus your time and attention. Because when you have a clear set of values you know which things are important, which things are peripheral and which things are witch things.

At my advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry we value 3 things above all else.

  1. Great Creative Ideas
  2. Excellent Customer Service
  3. A Fun Experience For Everyone Involved

We talk about these 3 things in all of our company meetings. We share these with our clients. And we measure ourselves against them. They are at the heart of our operation. Like Junior Mints.

Declaring Value At Home

We have a clear set of values at our home. However, we don’t call them our values. Partly because my wife Dawn and I started teaching them to our children when they were too young to understand what values were. So instead, we call them our most important things. And here they are.

The Albrecht Family 5 Most Important Things In Life

1. Being Smart We have to focus on our education, learning, thinking, reading and developing our minds. If we are not smart, we won’t know what’s important and what’s not (and what’s snot).

2. Being Brave We have to try difficult things. We have to face our fears. We have to push beyond our comfort zone, and stand up for what we know is right. We have to jump off that cliff into the water below. When we do, we will feel the fear transform into excitement, and then into accomplishment and then into confidence.

3. Being Nice We have to treat others the way we want to be treated. Be kind to others. Even when we don’t feel like it. Because kindness has to start somewhere. And the world is a nicer place when people are nicer to each other. Especially in Nice, France.

4. Being Funny Humor is the best way to get through difficult challenges. It makes us feel better. It brings people together. It decreases pressure. Making someone smile or laugh is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. If laughter is the best medicine, being funny makes you a doctor, or a pharmacist, or a drug dealer.

5. Being Adventurous You only have one life. So go, do, see, feel, taste and live. Soak up as much of life as you can. Try things to know and learn what you like and what you don’t. Except for drugs. Drugs will ruin your life. Unless the drug is laughter (see point 4).

Putting It Into Action

We talk about the 5 Most Important Things weekly at our house. In fact, they provide a great framework for teaching, encouragement and behavior modification. Plus, I can usually defend my actions by citing Important Thing #4. Although you can never place #4 above #3.

If you see my kids, ask them what the 5 Most Important Things In Life Are. You’ll see that they are baked into Ava, Johann and Magnus like The Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer. I take comfort in knowing that they will carry those values with them as a guiding framework for life, even when Dawn and I are not there to help them make decisions. Which is the ultimate goal of parenting.

Dreaming…

I find our 5 Most Important Things so valuable that I have been thinking of creating a family workshop to help other families develop their 5 Most Important Things. (Although it could be 3, 5 or 7 things in your family. Or 10 if you are a Letterman.) I’d like to do the workshop on January 1st every year. Because families are usually together that day. And I can’t think of a better way for a family to start a new year. Except for maybe skiing. Or Snowmobiling. (If this is something that interests you shoot me a note at adam@theweaponry.com and we can talk more about it.)

Key Takeaway

Know your values. Declare them. Share them with your organization, team or family. They will provide a strong framework for both thoughts, decisions and actions. Then live your values every day. Even when no one is watching.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

You don’t need to have a passion to be happy and successful.

I have a passion. I love advertising. I love everything about the creativity and strategery involved. My friends I grew up with tell me I was born for my career in advertising. They also tell me that I was born with a glitch in my brain. They are probably right on both accounts. Advertising plays to my natural interests and talents. Which makes my work easier and more enjoyable. It also led to me launch my own advertising and idea agency called The Weaponry.

However, discovering your true passion is fairly rare. Like a 4-leaf clover. Or a civil political debate. Over the course of my career, I have had conversations with countless people (meaning none of them were Counts) who have no idea what their passion is. In fact, I have come to think of the search for personal passion like the search for Sasquatch, or The Fountain of Youth. While it is exciting to think that it is out there somewhere there is a great chance you will never find it.

Don’t Worry. Passion Is Overrated

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t discovered your special purpose. You don’t need to have one specific passion to be wildly successful in life. There are many conduits to wealth and happiness. So instead of focusing on discovering your personal passion, utilize any of the following drivers to experience fulfillment, joy and success.

7 Substitutes For Passion

  1. Problem-Solving. If you like solving problems, you can be wildly successful. Because life, business and careers are full of problems. People who are good at solving problems are extremely valuable. That’s why they land in executive roles. Plus, problem-solving is inherently rewarding. Which is why Vanilla Ice was so into it, while the DJ revolved it.
  2. Competition: If you like playing games and competing you can apply that to your career. This is why former athletes are often great at things like pharmaceutical sales. It isn’t as if they have a natural passion for antidiarrheals and commercial- grade wart removers. They simply approach their work as if it is a competition. Which it is. In fact, business is the ultimate competitive sport. Because you are playing for money, honey.
  3. Goal Achievement: If you are goal-oriented, set lofty goals for your life and career. Because if you have audacious goals, like Goal D. Locks, you can use any business or career opportunities that come your way as tools to help you attain those goals.
  4. Enjoying Team Work: Work is more fun when done as part of a team. If you like working with others and achieving great things together, use that to drive your success. Again, don’t worry about what you are doing if you enjoy doing it with others (snickering).
  5. Enthusiasm: Some people are just naturally enthusiastic. It is a great quality to have. In fact, if you have enthusiasm, you don’t need to have one specific passion. Simply apply your positive energy towards whatever you do and you’ll experience positive results.
  6. Personal Growth: Do you like getting better and better at things? You can put that to use in anything you undertake. And you can experience rewards on a daily basis. Enjoying your daily progress and growth is a perfect recipe for long-term happiness and accomplishment.
  7. Love For Money: There is nothing wrong with loving money. Money is like a key that opens doors. It can help comfort and entertain us. It brings peace of mind. It can be used to experience real joy and adventure. If you enjoy having money and what it enables you to do, let that drive you. As Gordon Gekko said, greed is good. He also said that he was tired of being mistaken for the GEICO spokes animal.

Key Takeaway

Having a personal passion is nice. But is not a requirement for happiness and success. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what you were born to do. In fact, not having one defining passion means that you can take many different paths to an enjoyable and rewarding career. Use any or all of the 7 drivers above to power you along your path. You may even find that these drivers are your passion. Enjoy the journey. It is the key to enjoying your life.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.